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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Nappi-Choulet, Ingrid (ESSEC Business School); Maury, Tristan-Pierre (EDHEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This original study examines the potential of a spatiotemporal autoregressive Local (LSTAR) approach in modelling transaction prices for the housing market in inner Paris. We use a data set from the Paris Region notary office (“Chambre des notaires d’Île-de-France”) which consists of approximately 250,000 transactions units between the first quarter of 1990 and the end of 2005. We use the exact X -- Y coordinates and transaction date to spatially and temporally sort each transaction. We first choose to use the spatiotemporal autoregressive (STAR) approach proposed by Pace, Barry, Clapp and Rodriguez (1998). This method incorporates a spatiotemporal filtering process into the conventional hedonic function and attempts to correct for spatial and temporal correlative effects. We find significant estimates of spatial dependence effects. Moreover, using an original methodology, we find evidence of a strong presence of both spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the model. It suggests that spatial and temporal drifts in households socio-economic profiles and local housing market structure effects are certainly major determinants of the price level for the Paris Housing Market. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic Prices; Heterogeneity; Paris Housing Market; STAR Model |
| JEL: | C51 R33 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-09004&r=ure |
| By: | Jeffrey Lin |
| Abstract: | Where does adaptation to innovation take place? The author presents evidence on the role of agglomeration economies in the application of new knowledge to production. All else equal, workers are more likely to be observed in new work in locations that are initially dense in both college graduates and industry variety. This pattern is consistent with economies of density from the geographic concentration of factors and markets related to technological adaptation. A main contribution is to use a new measure, based on revisions to occupation classifications, to closely characterize cross-sectional differences across U.S. cities in adaptation to technological change. Worker-level results also provide new evidence on the skill bias of recent innovations. |
| Keywords: | Cities and towns ; Urban economics ; Labor market ; Job creation ; Technological innovations |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:09-17&r=ure |
| By: | Kai Carstensen; Oliver Hülsewig; Timo Wollmershäuser |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the importance of housing and mortgage market heterogeneity in 13 European countries for the transmission of monetary policy. We use a pooled VAR model which is estimated over the period 1995-2006 to generate impulse responses of key macroeconomic variables to a monetary policy shock. We split our sample of countries into two disjoint groups according to the impact of the monetary policy shock on real house prices. Our results suggest that in countries with a more pronounced reaction of real house prices the propagation of monetary policy shocks to macroeconomic variables is amplified. |
| Keywords: | Pooled VAR model, house prices, monetary policy transmission, country clusters, sign restrictions |
| JEL: | C32 C33 E52 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwfin:diwfin07040&r=ure |
| By: | Commins, Nicola (ESRI); Nolan, Anne (ESRI) |
| Abstract: | Rapid economic and demographic change in Ireland over the last decade, with associated increases in car dependence and congestion, has focused policy on encouraging more sustainable forms of travel. In this context, knowledge of current travel patterns and their determinants is crucial. In this paper, we extend earlier Irish research to examine the joint decision of car ownership and mode of transport to work. We employ cross-section micro-data from the 2006 Census of Population to estimate discrete choice models of car ownership and commuting mode choice for four subsamples of the Irish population, based on residential location. Empirical results suggest that travel and supply-side characteristics such as travel time, costs, work location and public transport availability, as well as demographic and socio-economic characteristics such as age and household composition have significant effects on these decisions. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp310&r=ure |
| By: | Marvin M. Smith; John Wackes; Tony E. Smith |
| Abstract: | This paper continues the use of the spatial void hypothesis methodology to analyze the location of alternative financial service providers, such as check cashing outlets and pawn shops, in New Castle County, Delaware, and Atlantic, Mercer, Monmouth, and Passaic counties in New Jersey. Also explores whether these providers are disproportionately serving minority and low-income areas. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpcd:09-01&r=ure |
| By: | Karthik Muralidharan; Venkatesh Sundararaman |
| Abstract: | Performance pay for teachers is frequently suggested as a way of improving education outcomes in schools, but the theoretical predictions regarding its effectiveness are ambiguous and the empirical evidence to date is limited and mixed. We present results from a randomized evaluation of a teacher incentive program implemented across a large representative sample of government-run rural primary schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The program provided bonus payments to teachers based on the average improvement of their students' test scores in independently administered learning assessments (with a mean bonus of 30% of monthly pay). At the end of two years of the program, students in incentive schools performed significantly better than those in control schools by 0.28 and 0.16 standard deviations in math and language tests respectively. They scored significantly higher on "conceptual" as well as "mechanical" components of the tests, suggesting that the gains in test scores represented an actual increase in learning outcomes. Incentive schools also performed better on subjects for which there were no incentives, suggesting positive spillovers. Group and individual incentive schools performed equally well in the first year of the program, but the individual incentive schools outperformed in the second year. Incentive schools performed significantly better than other randomly-chosen schools that received additional schooling inputs of a similar value. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 M52 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15323&r=ure |
| By: | Evers, Hans-Dieter; Genschick, Sven; Schraven, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | The construction of knowledge maps, demonstrated in this paper, is designed to show the epistemic landscape of cities, countries or regions. Knowledge assets, knowledge producing and disseminating organisations are referenced to spatial objects and integrated into GIS. They are further represented in thematic maps and in 3-D perspective graphs. Special attention is given to mapping and measuring knowledge clusters. Statistical procedures to measure the degree of knowledge clustering are discussed and ways are indicated to compare and determine the emergence of knowledge clusters. We conclude that the construction of knowledge maps showing the complexity of epistemic landscapes will enhance the chances of government agencies, companies and civic organisations to understand and use knowledge for development. This paper is in the first place meant as guideline for the related analysis. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge and development; knowledge maps; epistemic landscapes; knowledge clusters; Geographic Information System (GIS) |
| JEL: | N55 C82 C14 A1 C0 M19 O53 O2 B4 D8 O3 B41 |
| Date: | 2009–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17135&r=ure |
| By: | Karine Roux (CEREFIGE - Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine - INPL); Rani Jeanne Dang (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR6227 - Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis); Catherine Thomas (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR6227 - Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis); Christian Longhi (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR6227 - Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis); D. Talbot (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - CNRS : UMR5113 - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | A great deal of studies has focused on the role played by geographical location on the emergence and the building of localised learning capacities (Maskell, Malmberg, 1999). In this perspective, empirical studies have demonstrated that innovation dynamics of clusters results from the quality of interactions and coordination inside the cluster as well as interactions with external, often global, networks. In this context, knowledge exchange between firms and institutions are claimed to be the main drivers of spatial agglomeration (Canals et al, 2008). Hence, cluster policies have followed the main idea that geographic proximity facilitates collective innovation in so far as firms can capture knowledge externalities more easily. This idea is in fact very attractive but contains some limits (Suire et Vicente, 2007): if some clusters are successful others seem to decline. Therefore, in order to understand the territorial dynamics of clusters, the analysis of the specific nature of knowledge and information flows within a cluster is crucial. The objective of the paper is to enhance the analysis of the role of cognitive and relational dimensions of interactions on territorial dynamics of innovation. We focus on the key sub process of innovation: knowledge creation, which is above all a social process based on two key complex social mechanisms: the exchange and the combination of knowledge (Nahapiet and Goshal, 1996). We suggest building a theoretical framework that hinges on these two key mechanisms. In this perspective, we mobilise Boisot's I-Space model (Boisot, 1998) for the diffusion and exchange of knowledge and suggest completing the model by introducing the concept of architectural knowledge (Henderson and Clark, 1990) so as to take the complexity of the combination process into consideration. This analysis is conducted through the illustrative analysis of three different case studies. We will draw upon the case of Aerospace Valley Pole of Competitiveness (PoC), The Secured Communicating Solutions PoC, and Fabelor Competence Cluster. The cases show that the existence of architectural knowledge is pivotal to territorial innovation. |
| Keywords: | Architectural Knowledge, I-Space Model, Territorial Innovation, Geographical Clusters, Knowledge Management |
| Date: | 2009–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00365192_v1&r=ure |
| By: | Niinimäki, Juha-Pekka (Bank of Finland Research) |
| Abstract: | This theoretical paper explores screening with loan collateral when both the collateral value and the probability of project success fluctuate. Some model versions challenge the classic findings of Bester (1985) by showing that high-risk borrowers may in such case be more willing to pledge collateral than low-risk borrowers. Abundant collateral then would not signal low risk. The results may help explain the mixed empirical findings on the role of collateral. The paper also extends the analysis of the topical subprime crises and risky real estate collateral. |
| Keywords: | banking; collateral; screening; signalling; subprime lending |
| JEL: | G21 G22 G28 |
| Date: | 2009–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2009_019&r=ure |
| By: | A. Gautam |
| Abstract: | To study the adverse health effects of exposure to ambient air pollution in different areas of Dehra Doon. To examine the relationship between the levels of air pollution and the percentage of affected people in selected area of Dehra Doon city. Air quality monitoring and a questionnaire-based health survey in four areas of Dehra Doon were conducted during January and February 2003. The selected areas included two commercial areas, Lakhi Bagh and Clock Tower, both with highly congested vehicular traffic. For comparison two residential areas, Vasant Vihar and Kedarpuram were also studied. Kedarpuram is a less urbanised but a medium density area compared to Vasant Vihar. |
| Keywords: | health eefects, air pollution, pollution, Dehra Doon, questionnaire, residential areas, India, health, health survey, vehicular traffic, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2192&r=ure |
| By: | Manuel Adelino; Kristopher Gerardi; Paul S. Willen |
| Abstract: | We document the fact that servicers have been reluctant to renegotiate mortgages since the foreclosure crisis started in 2007, having performed payment-reducing modifications on only about 3 percent of seriously delinquent loans. We show that this reluctance does not result from securitization: Servicers renegotiate similarly small fractions of loans that they hold in their portfolios. Our results are robust to different definitions of renegotiation, including the one most likely to be affected by securitization, and to different definitions of delinquency. Our results are strongest in subsamples in which unobserved heterogeneity between portfolio and securitized loans is likely to be small and in subprime loans. We use a theoretical model to show that redefault risk, the possibility that a borrower will still default despite costly renegotiation, and self-cure risk, the possibility that a seriously delinquent borrower will become current without renegotiation, make renegotiation unattractive to investors. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2009-17&r=ure |
| By: | M. Angeles Carnero Fernández (Universidad de Alicante); Lídia Farré Olalla (Universidad de Alicante); Mariano Bosch (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of disclosing information on the discriminatory behaviour against immigrants in the Spanish rental market. We conduct a field experiment where emails are sent showing interest on vacant rental apartments. Fictitious applicants whose names represent different ethnic groups send emails with different amount of information about their ability to pay the rent. Our results show that applicants with a Moroccan sounding name are 15 percentage points less likely to be contacted by the property owner than those with a Spanish name. We also find that revealing positive information about the socioeconomic status of the Moroccan candidate increases the probability of being contacted by 8 percentage points. However, the information revealed does not completely eliminate discriminatory behavior, suggesting the presence of negative attitudes towards immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, migration, rental market, field experiment |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-21&r=ure |
| By: | Vladimir A. Karamychev (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Peran van Reeven (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | A monopolist in public transport may oversupply frequency relative to the social optimum, as van Reeven (2008) demonstrates with homogeneous consumers. This result generalizes for heterogeneous consumers who know the timetable. Whether a monopolist oversupplies or undersupplies frequency depends on the degree of consumers’ heterogeneity as reflected in the distribution of consumers’ reservation prices. Oversupply is likely to occur when this distribution is peaked, and undersupply is likely to occur when this distribution is rather flat. In particular, monopoly production results in the oversupply of frequency when consumers’ reservation prices are concentrated around the entry costs of the private car, being the main alternative to public transport. |
| Keywords: | Frequency oversupply; Mohring effect; transportation monopolist |
| JEL: | D42 L12 L91 |
| Date: | 2009–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20090077&r=ure |
| By: | Ron Cheung; Chris Cunningham |
| Abstract: | Since California voters approved Proposition 13 in 1978, fifteen states have enacted caps on the annual growth in assessed property values. These laws often impose a great burden on municipal finances and create horizontal inequity among homeowners. Why do voters choose to limit local government in this way? Reasons may include controlling the power of special interests, addressing agency failures of government officials (the "Leviathan" hypothesis), or preserving the impact of a current but fleeting antitax political alignment. Yet research has found that voters' perception of a limitation's fiscal consequences do not match reality, questioning the rationality of voter behavior. To counter this position, another strand of literature argues that support for tax limitations is driven not by perceptions of government inefficiency but by reasonable expectations of who will ultimately bear the tax limitation's burden. We explore this view by exploiting the differential tax treatment generated by assessment caps in the context of a recent, novel referendum in Florida. We examine voter support for a 2008 constitutional amendment that included a unique provision making the existing assessment cap portable within the state. We test the hypothesis that voters understood the mobility consequences of tax limitations and the net burden of the cap. We find that high potential tax savings and high expected mobility rates result in higher support for portability. We also find that the degree of racial segregation, the presence of nonresidential tax bases, and the share of migrants from out of state all contribute to support for the amendment. Results suggest that voters were as concerned with reducing their own tax share at the expense of other property owners as they were with curtailing local expenditures. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2009-19&r=ure |
| By: | Motohiro Yogo |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a consumption and portfolio-choice model of a retiree who allocates wealth in four asset classes: a riskless bond, a risky asset, a real annuity, and housing. The retiree chooses health expenditure endogenously in response to stochastic depreciation of health. The model is calibrated to explain the joint dynamics of health expenditure, health, and asset allocation for retirees in the Health and Retirement Study, aged 65 and older. The calibrated model is used to assess the welfare gain from private annuitization. The welfare gain ranges from 13 percent of wealth at age 65 for those in worst health, to 18 percent for those in best health. |
| JEL: | D91 G11 I10 J26 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15307&r=ure |
| By: | Gerald P. Dwyer; Paula Tkac |
| Abstract: | We explore how a relatively small amount of heterogeneous securities created turmoil in financial markets in much of the world in 2007 and 2008. The drivers of the financial turmoil and the financial crisis of 2008 were heterogeneous securities that were hard to value. These securities created concerns about counterparty risk and ultimately created substantial uncertainty. The problems spread in ways that were hard to see in advance. The run on prime money market funds in September 2008 and the effects on commercial paper were an important aspect of the crisis itself and are discussed in some detail. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2009-20&r=ure |
| By: | Roberta Capello (Politecnico di Milano, Italy); Andrea Caragliu (Politecnico di Milano, Italy, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge drives the growth of nations and regions in a competitive space-economy. Hence, we would expect a strong correlation between investments in R&D, knowledge and learning processes, on the one hand, and productivity increases, on the other. However, the empirical evidence shows consistent discrepancies between knowledge inputs and economic performance across geographical units. This paper addresses this intriguing issue at the regional level, by highlighting both theoretically and empirically the strategic importance played by cognitive elements as part of “territorial capital” in mediating between knowledge production and regional growth. The main proposition of the paper, subject to empirical testing, is that cognitive elements as part of territorial capital magnify the contribution of knowledge by determining the formation of increasing returns to knowledge exploitation. |
| Keywords: | territorial; capital; regional growth; cognitive; knowledge; rivalry; R&D |
| JEL: | R11 R15 R58 |
| Date: | 2009–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20090059&r=ure |
| By: | Kurt R. Brekke (Department of Economics and Helth Economics Bergen, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Luigi Siciliani (Department of Economics and Centre for Health Economics, University of York, Heslington); Odd Rune Straume (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between competition and quality within a spatial competition framework where firms compete in prices and quality. We generalise existing literature on spatial price-quality competition along several dimensions, including utility functions that are non-linear in income and cost functions that are non-separable in output and quality. Our main message is that the scope for a positive relationship between competition and quality is underestimated in the existing literature. If we allow for income effects by assuming that utility is strictly concave in income, we find that lower transportation costs always lead to higher quality. The presence of income effects might also reverse a previously reported negative relationship between the number of firms and equilibrium quality. This reversal result is further strenghtened if there are cost substitutabilities between output and quality. Equilibrium quality provision is always less than socially optimal in the presence of income effects. |
| Keywords: | Spatial competition; Quality; Income effects. |
| JEL: | D21 L13 L15 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:21/2009&r=ure |
| By: | Satya R. Chakravarty (Indian Statistical Institute); Bhargav Maharaj (Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, India) |
| Abstract: | An ethnic polarization index is a summary statistic of ethnic diversity in a population. Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2005,2008) suggested an index of ethnic polarization, the RQ index, and discussed its properties in detail. In this paper we develop some axiomatic characterizations of the RQ index using axioms taken mostly from the earlier literature. A generalized form of the RQ index is also characterized. Finally, we develop an ethnic polarization ordering for ranking alternative ethnic profiles unambiguously. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic polarization, RQ index, axioms, generalization, characterization. |
| JEL: | C43 D63 D74 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2009-134&r=ure |
| By: | Eric Tymoigne |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the trends in the financial sector over the past 30 years, and argues that unsupervised financial innovations and lenient government regulation are at the root of the current financial crisis and recession. Combined with a long period of economic expansion during which default rates were stable and low, deregulation and unsupervised financial innovations generated incentives to make risky financial decisions. Those decisions were taken because it was the only way for financial institutions to maintain market share and profitability. Thus, rather than putting the blame on individuals, this paper places it on an economic setup that requires the growing use of Ponzi processes during enduring economic expansion, and on a regulatory system that is unwilling to recognize (on the contrary, it contributes to) the intrinsic instability of market mechanisms. Subprime lending, greed, and speculation are merely aspects of the larger mechanisms at work. It is argued that we need to change the way we approach the regulation of financial institutions and look at what has been done in other sectors of the economy, where regulation and supervision are proactive and carefully implemented in order to guarantee the safety of society. The criterion for regulation and supervision should be neither Wall Street's nor Main Street's interests but rather the interests of the socioeconomic system. The latter requires financial stability if it's to raise, durably, the standard of living of both Wall Street and Main Street. Systemic stability, not profits or homeownership, should be the paramount criterion for financial regulation, since systemic stability is required to maintain the profitability--and ultimately, the existence--of any capitalist economic entity. The role of the government is to continually counter the Ponzi tendencies of market mechanisms, even if they are (temporarily) improving standards of living, and to encourage economic agents to develop safe and reliable financial practices. See also, Working Paper No. 573.1, "Securitization, Deregulation, Economic Stability, and Financial Crisis, Part I: The Evolution of Securitization." |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_573_2&r=ure |
| By: | Michel Grabisch (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, LIP6 - Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 - CNRS : UMR7606 - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI); Agnieszka Rusinowska (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study a model of influence in a social network. It is assumed that each player has an inclination to say YES or NO which, due to influence of other players, may be different from the decision of the player. The point of departure here is the concept of the Hoede-Bakker index—the notion which computes the overall decisional ‘power' of a player in a social network. The main drawback of the Hoede-Bakker index is that it hides the actual role of the influence function, analyzing only the final decision in terms of success and failure. In this paper, we separate the influence part from the group decision part, and focus on the description and analysis of the influence part. We propose among other descriptive tools a definition of a (weighted) influence index of a coalition upon an individual. Moreover, we consider different influence functions representative of commonly encountered situations. Finally, we propose a suitable definition of a modified decisional power. |
| Keywords: | Influence function ; Influence index ; Decisional power ; Social network |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00308741_v1&r=ure |